An End to Women's Periods?

Standard Toaster

A new contraceptive will soon let women stop menstruating.
In 2006, a new oral contraceptive called Anya, developed to "put women in control of when or if they want to menstruate," is expected to hit the Canadian and U.S. markets

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20051213_117621_117621

The tampon industry won't like this.
They'll just come up with another excuse to not have sex too :v:

mike65

Er not really after hours material methinks...

Mike.

jimmycrackcorm

Au Contraire methinks this is the most important piece of news this century....

No more PMS for five weeks every month:D !

Wertz

Guess they're gonna have to find some other reason to be a total bitch every 4 weeks...

Smurfpiss

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Au Contraire methinks this is the most important piece of news this century....

No more PMS for five weeks every month:D !

I'm trying to figure that out. My theory is you own a whore house in some alternate universe where there are 5 weeks in a month.

panda100

The_Edge wrote:

A new contraceptive will soon let women stop menstruating.
In 2006, a new oral contraceptive called Anya, developed to "put women in control of when or if they want to menstruate," is expected to hit the Canadian and U.S. markets

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20051213_117621_117621

The tampon industry won't like this.
They'll just come up with another excuse to not have sex too :v:

This sounds awful and oh so dangerous-why do we need to mess with nature so much-no wonder infertility is increasing so rapidly,id say give us another 200years and women wont be able to make anymore babies.

Vokes

panda100 wrote:

This sounds awful and oh so dangerous-why do we need to mess with nature so much-no wonder infertility is increasing so rapidly,id say give us another 200years and women wont be able to make anymore babies.

Quiet, woman!

Its called progress.

Cantab.

The_Edge wrote:

A new contraceptive will soon let women stop menstruating.
In 2006, a new oral contraceptive called Anya, developed to "put women in control of when or if they want to menstruate," is expected to hit the Canadian and U.S. markets

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20051213_117621_117621

The tampon industry won't like this.
They'll just come up with another excuse to not have sex too :v:

Why any woman would want to de-feminise her own body is beyond me (unless of course you are Germaine Greer).

So what are the side-effects of this drug? Supression of the menstrual cycle must surely involve some kind of supression of the female hormones? Does this mean that women on this drug will have no sexual urges, be absolute bitches and grow thick tufts of hair under their arms?

Wertz

panda100 wrote:

This sounds awful and oh so dangerous-why do we need to mess with nature so much-no wonder infertility is increasing so rapidly,id say give us another 200years and women wont be able to make anymore babies.

Give it another 50 and most men's sperm won't be alive enough to impregnate them...

cee_jay

I don't see how it is such a breakthrough
All you need do atm is run your normal pill together every month without a break!
It's not as if the bleeding you are experiencing is a period anyway when you are on the pill
I do it all the time

bounty_hunter

cAr0l wrote:

I don't see how it is such a breakthrough
All you need do atm is run your normal pill together every month without a break!
It's not as if the bleeding you are experiencing is a period anyway when you are on the pill
I do it all the time

It's a very destructive thing to do to your body if you do it too often. Try reading the packaging.

nesf

Moved to Biology/Medicine.

Capt'n Midnight

Some people would argue (and they'd wait till it got moved from AH ) that the natural state of a pre-industrial non-hunter gatherer woman during child bearing ages would be either lactating or pregnancy. Both of which would tend to reduce periods. So a view is that it's only modern women that suffer from this.

cee_jay

"It's a very destructive thing to do to your body if you do it too often. Try reading the packaging."

Not necessarily
I have spoken to my doctor about it - go for regular checkups etc - and I suffer from such bad periods - now I take a break from the pill every 3 months - so only get 4 (fake) periods a year.

Miller, meanwhile, contends that there are potential health benefits to taking the pill continuously, particularly for those who choose not to have children. "We know that the pill can reduce risks of uterine and ovarian cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids," she says. Then there are the savings for women on feminine hygiene products, which collectively cost billions of dollars a year. (In Canada, both the NDP and Conservative parties have toyed with the idea of scrapping the GST on feminine hygiene products to woo female voters.) "There's no downside in terms of health risks to stopping your period," concurs Dr. Julia Johnson, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Vermont and one of Anya's primary researchers. "The only drawback is that up to 30 per cent of women still experience some bleeding or spotting in the first six months at unpredictable times."
[\quote]

That's in the article mentioned by the OP - and every single case is different anyway.

bounty_hunter

cAr0l wrote:

Not necessarily
I have spoken to my doctor about it - go for regular checkups etc - and I suffer from such bad periods - now I take a break from the pill every 3 months - so only get 4 (fake) periods a year.

Every three months isn't necessarily "too often". You made it sound like you do it constantly

simu

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Some people would argue (and they'd wait till it got moved from AH ) that the natural state of a pre-industrial non-hunter gatherer woman during child bearing ages would be either lactating or pregnancy. Both of which would tend to reduce periods. So a view is that it's only modern women that suffer from this.

That's interesting and mentioned in the article.

Although, I don't think periods are as bad as many people make them out to be. But hey, if this just puts an end to cheesy sanitary product ads, woot! :v:

Shinners21

I think they're pretty bad!! I think it depends on the person, not everyone has it easy you know!! :rolleyes:

Dave!

SofaKing wrote:

Quiet, woman!

Its called progress.

Indeed!

DrIndy

Interesting, but we need long term studies to be sure it is as safe to take as the normal pill.

Remember LOTS of healthy young women take the pill and will take this and it is essential to ensure safety first. There have been problems with injectable contraceptives in the past and the Pill is a medicine and DOES increase your risk of blood clots by a tiny amount.

Capt'n Midnight

DrIndy wrote:

the Pill is a medicine and DOES increase your risk of blood clots by a tiny amount.

What about the risk of marital thrombosis ?

Nevyn

currently women menstrate from the ages of about 12 to 52.
That is an average of 40 years of 13 periods a year.

In the past poorer diet ment hat women did not have periods that regularlly or they would be pregant several times in thier lives.
The current threadmil of periods can be very draining on women health wise
as they don't get a break from the cycle, esp with most forms of artifical horemoanal contraception having a gap for a period to occur.

With the advancement and studies of non oral artifical horemoanal contraception such as implants and injections the benefits of not having a period every 28 to 30 days are being seen.

EamonnKeane

In the past poorer diet ment hat women did not have periods that regularlly or they would be pregant several times in thier lives.

In the past girls didn't get their period till about 16 because they didn't eat as much. They'd also breastfeed until their baby was about 2 and so their babies would be spaced about 3 years apart. And they would be pregnant many more times than modern women, but there was much more infant mortality and miscarriages in the past.

daiixi

bounty_hunter wrote:

Every three months isn't necessarily "too often". You made it sound like you do it constantly

I've been running the pill together for the past 8 years now.. I'll take my chances on infertility rather than be confined to bed for a week every month!

snorlax

i know what you mean Daiixi, periods can really dehabilitate you. eg when they're really bad on days 1 and 2 i'm often stuck in bed with a hot water bottle or brave it with strong pain killers or Ponmel perscribed to me by my doctor. i can't miss any days in college this year so as i get called into the head of department if i miss even two lectures. the normal pill is wonderful for helping reduce the symptoms though. i don't know how long your suppossed to take it for though, are you not suppossed to have breaks in between? iv heard of the normal pill stopping people's periods altogether after they'd been on it a while, i d freak out if that happened to me.

wheresthebeef

snorlax wrote:

i can't miss any days in college this year so as i get called into the head of department if i miss even two lectures.

Bloody Faculty of Health Sciences, have they no compassion. Nurses can get time off with medical certs, although price of going to your doctor every 28 days would be a bit much.

I agree with Indy, in depth clinical trials are neccesary to ensure the integrity of the drug. We all remember the "miracle" that was Thallidomide.

daiixi

snorlax wrote:

i don't know how long your suppossed to take it for though, are you not suppossed to have breaks in between? iv heard of the normal pill stopping people's periods altogether after they'd been on it a while, i d freak out if that happened to me.

As far as my doctor(s) are concerned I can string it together for as long as I want as long as my blood pressure remains normal. To be honest, doctors don't know all the long term effects of the pill, in the scheme of things it hasn't been around for that long!!

snorlax

with the pill you normally have break through bleeding for a day or two, but the pain (or spastic cramps you get) is much reduced, it really is a life saver. i just came off it for a break after 7months and am already bedridden for much of today and am only starting to recover with the help of my painkillers (thank fully it is the holidays and my mom is looking after me ). sometimes i think it would be easier to not have to go through this every month, but it does make me appreciate my otherwise perfect health for the rest of the month.

the pains you experience are suppossed to be similiar to those that occur when giving birth.

Nevyn

It differs from woman to woman.
Whe I was not on the pill some of the cramps I got were pretty bad and I could compare them to the onset of labour, that is in my case.
While on the pill I got cramps and twinges but nothing I could consider painfull and I never needed to take painkillers.
Thankfully due to the Minerva IUS I have not had a period in nearly three years,
that is 1/5 of the hormoane does that is in the oral contrapceptive delivered directly to the blood supply in the womb.
So research is being done, finally.

snorlax

is the Minerva IUS injected into your abdomen then and how long does it's effect last once you get it, do you have to see your doctor every month?

evening primrose oil is supposed to be good as it vitB / folic acid etc. im not really a big fan of all hormones the pill puts into your blood stream so i wouldn't mind getting a lower dosage although i already am on the lowest dosage (Microlite).

DrIndy

daiixi wrote:

As far as my doctor(s) are concerned I can string it together for as long as I want as long as my blood pressure remains normal. To be honest, doctors don't know all the long term effects of the pill, in the scheme of things it hasn't been around for that long!!

Rubbish.

The Pill has been around for decades and there is good evidence out there on how the standard pill works and its side effects. Be aware that after prolonged contraceptive use, some women do experience infertility. Their normal menstrual cycle can become very disrupted and ovulation haphazard for up to a year after stopping the contraceptive pill.

There will always be research being done as it is a phenomenal money spinner if they get it right!

Siogfinsceal

I wouldnt like something like this purely because its hard to know then that your not pregnant i think let it be tested for a while first. My mate started taking the patch recently Carols right about the pill its safe to take without a break for 2 or 3 months I do it sometimes if I dont want a period for some reason.

bounty_hunter

daiixi wrote:

I've been running the pill together for the past 8 years now.. I'll take my chances on infertility rather than be confined to bed for a week every month!

Oh you know what I meant, it looked like you were saying you do it every single month. And I wasn't talking about infertility, I was referring to the change in hormones that leads to erratic mood swings and such.

arac

cAr0l wrote:

"It's a very destructive thing to do to your body if you do it too often. Try reading the packaging."

Not necessarily
I have spoken to my doctor about it - go for regular checkups etc - and I suffer from such bad periods - now I take a break from the pill every 3 months - so only get 4 (fake) periods a year.

Agreed have also discussed it with my doc, she says no danger with taking pill continously..why bother with all that hassle when no need?!

bounty_hunter

Of course there's danger, you're pumping your body full of hormones. Obviously you're not going to ****ing drop dead, I'm not talking about that kind of danger.

If you ask your doctor again, he/she will tell you that yes, there are risks and conditions, but if you understand those and you're willing to overlook them then he/she isn't obliged to try and talk you out of your decision, being that you're not in any immediate "danger".

I don't know about you, but I would consider the risk of rendering yourself infertile, not to mention completely rearranging your body's natural system and tricking your brain into believing it should be that way, dangerous.

And I'm not talking about running packs together the occasional time when circumstances require it -for example, as a few people have mentioned, because of bad periods, or for a special occasion-, I've done it myself (and, having done it myself, I know what kind of effect it had on my hormones). I'm talking about doing it constantly, so much so that your pituitary gland begins to actually believe that you are not meant to menstruate. Doesn't anybody else find such manipulation of your system slightly terrifying?

arac

I do it when its conveniant to do so, like when you have a big occasion coming up and could do without the hassle of a period, or when you have exams or not..I wouldn't advocate doing it continously over a year..

bounty_hunter

Exactly, that's what I'm talking about. In your previous post you stated "continuously", which I understood to mean that you do it constantly without a break.

arac

Sorry must contextualise..I asked her was there any danger with taking the pill without a break you know in isolated instances, but her opinion seemed to be "continous" use seemed to be fine.